Chapter 001: I Turned into Pandora?
"Ugh..."
Staring at the sky full of ice spikes, the platinum-haired girl froze in place.
"Um, could you please wait a moment?"
"She... she said to wait..."
The silver-haired girl nervously tugged at the woman's sleeve while pointing at the platinum-haired girl who had reappeared on the snowfield.
"Pandora! What are you trying to do?!" After comforting the silver-haired girl, the woman shouted with a deep frown.
She wasn't sure if this creature could even be killed. Since Pandora wanted to say something, she might as well listen while using this time to look for weaknesses.
"Me... Pandora?"
The platinum-haired girl pointed at herself in confusion.
"Don't joke... uh..."
She hadn't noticed before, but now that she'd stopped moving, she realized she had changed. Not only was her voice feminine, but she seemed to be wearing only a single layer of "white cloth"? And she didn't feel cold at all?
She only remembered falling down the stairs earlier, and then...
"Excuse me, are you Miss Fortuna?"
The platinum-haired girl asked excitedly while looking at the older and younger pair not far away.
"And is she Emilia..."
They're real! What does this mean! It means her wish came true! She'd come to another world! And she'd become... Pandora!
"You!" Fortuna didn't lower her guard when the platinum-haired girl suddenly started laughing—instead, she accelerated the formation of ice spikes.
"Calm down, Miss Fortuna!" Seeing this, Pandora quickly waved her hands.
She'd just arrived in this other world and didn't want to experience multiple deaths like Natsuki Subaru.
"Lady Fortuna!"
At that moment, a man with green hair rushed out from the forest.
"Uh..." Pandora stared blankly as the man in the distance looked directly at Fortuna.
This... if she didn't stop this, Fortuna would soon be pierced by "Unseen Hands," right...
What should she do! It's all the original body's fault for making Petelgeuse mistake Fortuna for herself...
Wait! Now she was Pandora!
"Didn't Archbishop Petelgeuse just absorb the Witch Factor?" Thus, at the final moment, Pandora suddenly spoke.
Instantly, Petelgeuse, who had been in a frenzied state, suddenly calmed down.
Some of the blood flowing down his cheeks disappeared.
In the distance, a row of thick trees that had been violently snapped in half suddenly "regrew" from their stumps.
Thud!
With a landing sound, Petelgeuse fell to the ground. Ignoring his confused mind, he looked in bewilderment at his original target.
"You..." Seeing the silver-haired woman's puzzled and concerned expression, Petelgeuse's body trembled. "I..."
The person he had been about to kill was actually his beloved Lady Fortuna!
"Lady Fortuna..." In the end, he simply collapsed to the ground and began crying.
"Geuse... what's wrong with you..." Watching as the green-haired man, who had been in terrible condition, regained some sanity and strength, Fortuna looked at Pandora with confusion. "What did you do?"
She couldn't quite understand why Pandora had suddenly said that, or why Geuse now felt such deep remorse toward her.
"Nothing much, I just didn't want you to die." After secretly breathing a sigh of relief, Pandora responded like this.
Since she had become Pandora, there was no longer any need to kill Fortuna, obtain that so-called "Key," and open the sealed door to release the Witch of Envy.
Why destroy such a beautiful otherworld?
"You... what did you say?!" Though Pandora was stating a fact, Fortuna, unaware of the truth, believed she was being mocked: "Whether I die or not, come and try if you dare!"
This left Pandora somewhat puzzled, before she seemed to recall something.
"Ah, that's right. You can't see those hands, which is why you're looking at me with such anger." As she spoke, she walked toward Geuse.
"Archbishop Petelgeuse, my apologies for disturbing you." Since she had made her decision, she had to commit fully to the act.
"Hah... you... what did you say?" Hearing Pandora suddenly apologize to him, Petelgeuse instinctively reverted to using honorifics.
"I promised you I wouldn't set foot in this forest, yet here I am. So I'm truly sorry." Pandora elaborated further.
"You..." Even Fortuna, standing not far away, now wore a shocked expression.
For the first time, she sensed genuine emotion in Pandora's words.
"Why... why would you do this?" After wiping away his tears, Petelgeuse asked in confusion.
"You only said I couldn't enter this forest before." Pandora smiled at this. "Everyone has curiosity—even witches are no exception..."
Of course, this was perfectly reasonable, as even the famous bulk supplier of "Dona Tea" was such a witch.
"But..." Just as Petelgeuse was about to speak, Pandora stopped him with a gesture.
"And since I often see you coming here, I assumed there must be something important to you in this place." After glancing at Fortuna and Emilia, Pandora continued, "I know nothing matters to you except that box, so... you must be here to visit someone. Someone important."
Upon hearing this, Petelgeuse's eyes widened.
"You... you knew?" He stared at Pandora in disbelief.
"Of course. I am a leader who cares about my subordinates, after all. And on the path earlier, you were the one who spoke of... [love]." Pandora nodded in confirmation.
"I..." Instantly, Petelgeuse flushed red, not daring to look at Fortuna's expression.
"What nonsense are you spouting?!" Fortuna suddenly shouted. "You killed my brothers! You killed Archi! And you still try to deny it?"
Though she had admitted her feelings for Petelgeuse earlier, she didn't believe a simple apology could resolve everything.
"And if that's the case, why didn't you say so before?"
This was the most critical point.
"Ah..." Pandora sighed at this. "First of all, Archi isn't dead. And secondly..."
"Which young lady kept using ice magic to silence me?"
"How many times did I say I wanted to talk to you?"
"And who was it that knocked me to the ground without a word, leaving me bleeding profusely?"
This series of questions left Fortuna speechless.
"Then why did you kill my brothers!"